; , Continued' on Page ; Two. ... « ; | Continued on Pace Tirow ¦PARIS; '. April". 21."— As' General Mercier. ¦formerly/ Minister ;'of ;'.War, ; was leaving a; •political] meeting -at- La-Fcrte-Bernaril. ,in;the'department: of '; Sarthe; ¦ at which ; he had( preslded.^he ylwaslstohed "and ; ''-su3 tairicd'a .wound in the head., ' • • , General Mercier" Is i Assaulted. CARACAS,* Venezuela, April • 21.— The '. Government has intercepted^ a. letter written by' an officer of -the .'British' cruis-' 'er Indefatigable, belonging to the < Britl-sh North American and West Indian' squad ron, .to' an English friend, in which, speaHIng*of ..the Venezuelan ; revolution, thfcf officer asked: . ¦;.'! "Why, " does not some one assassinate President Castro i and- thus -save .further bloodshed?" ,\_ : , . ¦ - Official . papers, here , have : as a result made bitter", attacks on the British, army, and on the officials of the lcgation'inCar , acas: " ' '. ' ¦¦.' ' '"'•'.'.,-' V'i - SUGGESTS : ASSASSINATION OP PRESIDENT CASTRO . ; Mayor ; Schmitz .was ' ' informed ¦, during the day that' a "detective agency was arm ing. a{ number of men- in' behalf of Uhe Railroads .. and ¦_' that% their 'purpo'se. 'was ' to assist .in taking;^ but"' cars. . The Mayor '.immediately^ appeared tha Police , Commissioners and"- requested- that In - the ; Interests • of 'the • public" peace no permits ''.\ to^y carry: y concealed 'weapons should' be? granted to 5 any7one.; t The .coin-' , mission declined.iin consequence,"; to- con- NO/ PERMITS I GRANTED. reports of disturbances had 1 been ; received • at ? police ¦ headquarters. . '- * . A mu * HERE were few changes in the Mf carmen's- strike - situation-yes "¦ m- :' terday.. Both- sides are .watch-" ¦B . ' ing r- each . other • and ;• quietly :'~^. ¦'¦•' awaiting! developments.:. The prospect for an immediate ad justment of the trouble do not appear, to be very bright! - Reports of , violence here ¦ and - there were? of frequent occurrence last'l night, but when these were run down" they. were i i found : to i * be "canards." v.There". were . state ments made that armed men contemplat ed, making raids on carhouses, and :that serious trouble was _ to be' feared. • The strikers declare 'that these: reports are spread for. the ; sole' purpose of s discredlt- Ihg their cause in the minds of the public, and they, add I that they are ¦ not;; only avers e to violence , r bu t : are willing > to , do all In -their "power, to protect the property, of the company. . " . ; -T '•; . ¦.* A " rumor, having . gained : . currency, that an : attempt v/ould ; be. made' to . do ' damage , to ' some of .y the "company's property, '. the executive committee of the •Amalgamated Association of ; Railway Employes : ap pointed nearly 100 nien .as &; peace'^coni'^ inittee, withi Instructions .to '.-.watch", every., carhouse of the system and 'prevent van dalism. . .;'¦ .These men : were > on -, duty." last night, and 'at 1 :' o'clock* this 'morning.] no LONDON, April^l.'-Vln a, dispatch. from Caetle I>oo the correspondent of thebaily] Mall declares' the information tbe"public minimizes the gravity of Queen" Wilhelmina's condition and magnifies her cnances for ; recovery. ; The grief-stricken nation,- which loves the (Queen to the pclnt'of ; Idolatry, Is in a state of i terrible'' suspense, .while ; the politicians are aghast at . the.: possibilities i of a fatal ;termina tio\r:of'hcr;illness.^_";;' : : . . ' The * Queen's burst Jnto tears when she was first . told her daughter.' had typhoid feve'rl;: • She '. seldom ; leaves"; the sick chamber. '; ; ' ; : ; ; -THE HAGUE, April 21.— The ; condition of Queen Wllhelmlna is unchanged. Her physicians say- it 5 is impossible to pre dict the date of the crisis In her illness. An extraordinary cabinet council ;was held to-day. . The .meeting engendered numerous • rumors concerning a '. decision In the matter of .the regency, ;',but It is siiid upon good authority that this matter was not .discussed Tat: the council. / / : ' .':, ' : . It Is reported that one of the maids of Queen Wllhelmina's household -has }bcen attacked by; typhoid fever. in - State of Terrible Suspense. People of Grief -Stricken Holland Are QUEEN WILHELMINA'S CONDITION NOT CHANGED I The responsibility for the strike and the countless •Inconveniences 'it Imposes upon th&,public is flied upon General Manager: Vinlng-and '"WV F. ; He'rrin.-':" Business men say? that ,these gentlemen;" whose connec-i tion with the system is practically at an' end; . are : disinterested • parties in the ' premises' and that' no. matter what the outcome : may be they have "nothing to gain ;? or «¦ lose.: : This,* it ;. Is said, ; accounts ' for their.' apathy ;at -af time 'when all the ! residents of San Francisco; are demanding j .the"- immediate adjustment of the trouble I and the resumption of traffic on the Mar- j ket-strc*et : system.' ' . VINING ; IS BLAMED. J The failure of the officials of the,United Railroads to take advantage of the offer "of , Mayor; Schmitz to act as mediator in the settlement of the strike is occasioning considerable gossip in business circles. It is regarded as very; strange that none of the company -seems to be vested, with sufficient authority to take the Initiative. In . the matter and . to treat with the men for a ; settlement. These" officials are in constant communication with" the : Balti more .syndicate, -but- the result ¦ of their inquiries' or. the instructions they receive are kept a '.close secret. ... , . ...... . . . f . ,^ . . sider applications for carrying concealed weapons, although several were on file. ¦ Scarcely ' a wheel was turned . upon * the system .' yesterday. The" ; officials of the company \ made " no attempt to send out any cars for business purposes, .but a car was sent over.the main line for prudential reasons.: The question as to the franchise rights,-' of! the company . lapsing ' should they., miss , sending out , at • least one car daily prompts the \ corporation . to taka this : precaution. Although / the- strikers are [ present when these cars ; are taken from the carhoiises, the nien in charge have: not been molested in any way. Prospects for the Early Settlement of the Controversy Are Not Bright. WASHINGTON. April 21.— Senator, Tel ler, to-day introduced a resolution . declar ing it to be the 'sense of the Senate that the sedition laws In -force in the "Philip pines should be repealed. The, resolution Is preceded by .a'.'prcamble citing the ar- ish Sedition Laws. Teller Introduces Resolution to Abol- TO EESCT7E ,THE EDITORS.' Before . the adoption . of this resolution the Democratic members of the Insular Committee explained the terms of -the first separate Pnilippine measures now proposed. The Republican bill < in the Senate provides a temporary form of.civil government. In 'effect continuing the .pres ent system. The Republican House^bill proposes a complete form .of; civil 'gov ernment with " a . Philippine Legislature. The Democratic bills, both in .'the. Senate and in the House, - look tp ultimate inde pendence of the islands, \ but ..the'. House measure goes more . into detail) on 'the period preceding ~ ' independence, ,. fixing July 4, 1311, as the date for a complete insular independence. It Is with a 'view to reconciling the details of the two Dem ocratic measures that the resolutions were/ adopted •- to-night. . Speeches *, were' made In " support , of thc . resolutions J by Jones of Virginia. Williams 'of Mississippi and Gaines of Tennessee. agreement upon one bill to be heard -in both branches of Congress. " WASHINGTON. April 21.— The .Demo crats of the House held a. caucus to con sider the Philippine government bill agreed upon by the Democratic members of the Insular Committee. The caucus lasted until shortly before midnight, when a resolution by Representative Jones .of Virginia was adopted unanimously approv ing the minority bill and -requesting the Democratic members on the Insular Com mittee to confer with Democratic Sen ators in order to reconcile any differences existing as to the details of a Philippine measure, with \ a , view to reaching . an pine Government Bills. House Democratic Caucus on Philip- RECONCILING THE MEASURES. The matter of calling.Sixto.Lopez,:Ma binl and Aguinaldo was left for future de termination. The committee r then ad« journed until Tuesday,, April 29, on which day General ¦ MacArthur will again be heard. ¦•;..-, :. ¦¦;>¦'*.-.- 'i :¦.'>;¦ "Resolved, That it is. the sense of the Senate of the United States that the se dition- laws' should ] be immediately re pealed- and , prosecutions under them im mediately ' ceased, . and that > no person shall thereafter be punished by death,, im prisonment or fine in the provinces of the Philippines in which armed. resistance to the authority of the United States has ceased unless. the accused on demand has been tried before a jury of his peers and officially pronounced guilty; and, further, that thereafter, in, the courts of said arch ipelago when the offense charged consists of "words ; spoken or written against any citizen or; official or department of said Government "the truth of said words spoken or ¦ written may j be given in evi-' deriee and shall constitute a full and per fect defense." ..¦'. i ':'<'.¦ r':.l- . "Whereas," by the enactment of such laws and the denial of trial by jury of those accused under them, the adminis tration of such laws by Judges appointed by the officials against whom the offenses are alleged to have been committed, and who have reserved to themselves the right to 'remove such Judges j.t pleasure, every vestige of civil liberty is destroyed, personal liberty and property are without the security of law and the Filipino peo ple are being taught to hate the .United States, even . as much as they' hated Spain;', therefore, be it - rest of the newspaper editors of the Free dom, and- the Volcano, published, in the archipelago,^and asserting that they are to: be; tried under these laws by Judges who: owe their appointments and tenure of ! office ¦ to , the Government commission for the criticism of which the men are to be tried./ . ' : '.': Thelast paragraph of the preamble ar.d the. resolution are as follows: The railroad company claims that yes terday morning 300 men applied for posi tions. In the afternoon there were fully 100 applicants. v Of these few would hav« been accepted, however, as they appeared to be young men from the small towns in the . country, .unused to city life and attracted to San Francisco by the pros pects of going to work as conductors. At the offices of the railway company there are s'gns hung conspicuously on the walls, drawing the attention of applicants to tha rules for those who wish to enter the ser vice of the road. The first step taken is to -ill out an application blank. A medi cal examination must be undergone and if passed by the company's doctor the ap plicant must deposit $35 as a guarantee of the faithful performance of his duties. The sum of £5 Is also demanded for tn» purchase of a uniform and to pay a pre mium i to the National . Surety Company. APPLICANTS FOB PLACES.. The railroad people, from the few state ments they made, seem to feel confident that those who struck last Saturday even- Ing will have to come back to work at the old .terms or have their places Oiled tjy local men. remforced by. some experienced motormen.* gripmen and conductors front the East. About 5:30 o'clock the directors, one by one. left *he building. They refused to be interviewed, but. to all . questions replied that there • was no change in the, situa tion. It is known/ however, that all yes terday the directors were communicating with the members of the Baltimore syndi cate in the East and that they will not act upon their own responsibility, but will take orders from the heads of the road in Baltimore. In the afternoon H. E.'Huntington. who was president of the old Market Street Railway Company, for many years, called at - the .offices of the syndicate and spent several houre in consultation, evidently advising the officers of the company as to what course to pursue." •|jf «mt ROM early yesterday morning B until late In the evening the B y directors of the United Rail "- B ' roads, their attorneys and •^*" General Manager VIning wen In consultation at the offices of the syndicate in the Wells-Fargo build ing. The usually quiet corridors of th« building were crowded by a long stream of persons who were interested in tha strike situation: . AMERICAN OFFICER IN COMMAND OF-.TROOPS ON THE ISLAND OF ; SAMAR WHO :.WILL \ BE TRIED BY ¦ COURT-MARTIAL ON A . CHARGE OF CONDUCTING A CAMPAIGN OF' EXTERMINATION. Railway Of ficials Say Men May Be Brought From the East. OFFICIALS OF THE UNITED RAIL ROADS IN CONFERENCE. SCENES OF ATTEMPT TO RUN CARS.. . The conferees -on the Chinese exclusion bill held their, first conference to-day and without reaching a . conclusion adjourned to meet to-morrow. The meeting to-day was devoted to a general exchange of opinions on the merits of the two bills. The representatives of the Senate pressed very hard for the acceptance of the Sen ate substitute, and while the House mem bers indicated no definite purpose" to yield, the indications now are that the "Senate measure, with ' a few possible additions, will be accepted I by the * conferees. , It ; is expected by the members of the' confer ence that a conclusion will be reached at to-morrow's meeting. CONSIDER ' SENATE I : BILL. "On the contrary, the -enforcement of that section ; as - amended \ will serve to advance the purposes of the two 'coun tries in respect of Chinese laborers as avowed in the treaty of 1894. Despite the ingenious argument to. the contrary, we do not perceive any difficulty . whatever in reaching this ' conclusion after care fully scrutinizing 'the treaty and statute. A different conclusion would be hostile to the objects^ which, , as avowed, in , the treaty, both 'the United States and China desire to accomplish. : This •- is so.clearly manifest that - argument cannot make it more so." ADVANCES ALL PURPOSES. The Chinaman in this. instance entered the State of . New _York from Canada in October, 1900, and was immediately ap prehended. , ' LAW IS ., NOT DISPLACED. \ Justice Harlan delivered, the opinion of the court, saying :'¦' "A statute enacted by Congress ' . expresses '- the will of the people < "of . ; v the .7, -United States in ,the most' s61emn ;form. ., If not:re pugnant td'the constitution' it ismade'by that instrument a part of the supreme law bf^*:lsnd : ajS'T3r ijiTbeld^tC^ofie 5 I by,{a' treaty • subsequently^con cluded unless it" is 'impossible for both to stand together'artd rbe "enforced:" So far from there- being any r inconsistency;.be tween statute : . and . treaty.' herein ques tioned, the twelfth ' section ' of . r the act" of 1S82, as amended in 1S84, and continued in force for ten years from and after the passage of the act of 1892, is in absolute harmony with .the treaty and can be en forced without affecting, or impairing any right secured by the treaty. WASHINGTON. 'April 2l.—The'-_ United States Supreme Cpurt. to-day rendered a decision In the case, of the 'United States vs. Lee Yen Tia,' coming : from the Court fo Appeals for the Second Circuit, submit ting the ' question .;. as to ; whether the twelfth section "of /the' Congressional i act, of 1882, requiring certificates j from China- men about' to enter the' United States, had been abroga ted V by the treaty : of -1S94 between the United ' States / and China.' The question was answered. in the.nega tive, the law being thus' held to be still in effect. Conferees Are Likely to Accept Senate Measure. Decides That Chinese Musi Still f Furnish Certificates; ; ¦-TM-- April 21.— A jcourt /B /B martial has becn ordered / mr B for thc trlal of Gencral Ja " / W B cob H. Smith, who was in "•¦ ' -^- command of the United States troops on the island of Samar. Generals Lloyd Wheaton. Scmuel Sumner. James M. Bell and Wil liam U. Bisbee and Colonels Chambers McKibben, William A- Rafferty, William E. Dougherty, Alfred C. Markley and Jesse M. Lee compose the court. The judge advocate is Major Harvey C. Car baugh. Colonel Charles A. Woodruff will appear for the defense. The charge brought against General Smith Is con duct prejudicial to good order and dis cipline. The trial will begin Thursday. WITNESS OF "WATER CUBE." WASHINGTON. April 21.— The Senate Committee on the Philippines to-day re sumed thc examination of witnesses In The investigation of affairs in the Phil ip pines. Grovcr Flint of Cambridge, Mass., who served as first lieutenant in the Thirty fifth Volunteer Infantry, testified that early in May, 1900, he had been a witness to the "water cure," as administered to the natives by Macabebe scouts, and that this v.as done to get information as to the ¦whereabouts of their guns. The guns were delivered. The following day some rccn of his own regiment applied the cur?, but their act was without the authority of their commanding officers. The Maca bebes at the time referred to were not under the command of a commissioned c!Fcer. but of a sergeant of the United States army. Flint had been, he said, a witness to at least twenty cases of wa ter cure. He had never seen any one die as a result of the cure, but had seen a hospital corps man working on a native who had been rendered unconscious.' It also had been represented to him that ccp Filipino died from the cltccts ef the water cure. CSUELTY TO OLD MEN. The witness then described the method of administering the cure, and said that in some cases where It was given to old zren he" had seen their teeth fall out. Flint, in response to a question by Sen ator Dietrich, said he was present upon these occasions, "to draw the line on ex cesses." He did not recommend to the rr.a jor that the practice cease, nor did he give any orders to his men to stop the torture. Answering a question by Senator Bur rows, the witness declared that the effect of the cure was Immediate, the victim invariably turning over his gun or bolo and giving information as to thc where abouts of others. He said it was impos sible to judge whether the victims were Insurgent: soldiers or peasants, but they appeared to be peaceable villagers. Some of them were thrown down by force; others who were timid would submit readily, while those who resisted were held the more tightly. The treatment, he said, never got to a point of great bru tality. KAJOB, DID NOT INTERFERE. Replying to a question by Senator Lodge, the witness said he had becn re* fused a commission In the regular army because his colonel had accused him of using Intoxicating liquors to excess. The witness deplored the raising of this ques tion, but Senator Beverldg© said it had an important bearing on the case. Flint denied that on any of the occa sions when he had witnessed the watet cure he was under the influence of liquor. He Insisted that in justice to himself he ought to state that he was not drunk, but had been a careless drinker. Witness had, he said, released several men who did not appear to him to be insurgents Major Earl of his regiment wa* always near, but had not Interfered in the ad ministration of the cure, simply assign ing a commanding officer to see that the men did not go too far. After considerable questioning the wit ness finally admitted that he approved of the water cure, and responding to a query toy Senator Beveridge said that it was not an American invention, but was as old as the "chronicles of Newgate." Asked regarding Filipinos in guardhouses, he said that they were treated exactly. the same as American prisoners. LIKE WEYLEB'S TACTICS. The witness described the burning of email villages, the idea, be said, being to drive the women to thc woods or to the towns and concentrate them. "Whom did the army borrow- that from?" "I knew it in Cuba," answered the wit ness, "under the authority of ' General Wcylcr." ; The committee then went Into executive session. The committee, in executive ses sion, refused to call Edward Atkinson of Pcston as a witness, but directed that. a eubpena Issue for a number of sergeants and privates who were witnesses uf the water cure. Senator Lodge laid before the commit tee a report by A. Lester Hazelett, who was sent to the Philippines by the W. C. T. U.. of Columbus, Wis., to Investigate the moral conditions existing in the Phil- Ilppines, and alfo alleged violation of thc anti-canteen law. The report shows that the moral condition in the Philippines is : better than ever before since American occupation, and that there were no viola- ; tion* of the anti-canteen law. : SupremeCourt Makes Strong Exclusion Ruling. TREATY UPHOLDS THE LAW "WATER CURE" OF FILIPINOS IS FOLLOWED BY COURT=MARTIAL FOR GENERAL JACOB H. SMITH *J* HE strike situation at midnight remained unchanged. Many rumors zvpre current during the day that violence tvas threatened,' but on investigation these, were, found; to be untrue. The United Railroads Company renewed its plea for •* police protection, but Chief, of Police Wittman, acting under instructions from Mayor .Schmitz, declined to detail any policemen- for special service until the necessity -then for arose. The officers of the United Railroads appear to evade the Peace conference suggested by the Mayor, and their actions indicate that the struggle will be protracted. Neither side shows signs oflzveakcning, and hints are already made by the railroad people that men will be imported from Chicago and other Eastern cities to replace the strikers. The strikers are meeting daily, and all their instructions arc headed .with the injunction to preserve the peace at all hazards. Ninety-eight per cent of the street railway employes are noiv members of the union. PRINCIPALS IN THE GREAT STREET RAILWAY STRIKE ARE RESTING ON THEIR OARS AND AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS VOLUME PKICE FITE CENTS. SAN FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, J APRIL 22, 1902. XCI— NO. 143. The San Francisco Call.